Ciments de l’Atlas (CIMAT) announced the recent opening of the new 0.5Mta Diago grinding plant in Mali, which will increase domestic cement production in the country by around 25 per cent. Mali has had to rely on cement imports from Senegal in the main to meet its domestic demand. It is expected that clinker imports will gradually start to replace bagged cement imports.

Addoha Group-owned Ciments de L’Afrique (CIMAF) established its CIMAT subsidiary in 2007 and has since gone on to build cement plants in its home country of Morocco and grinding units in Mauritania, Gabon, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Togo, Republic of Congo, DR Congo, Cameroon, France, Chad and Burkino Faso. There is also construction underway for a plant in Guinea-Bissau and a second plant in Burkina Faso, as well as a second plant in Côte d’Ivoire. The CIMAF group now has a presence in 12 African countries and has an installed cement capacity of more than 10Mta.

Early market penetration
The new grinding plant at Diago is only the start of building up the CIMAF market share in Mali. This plant itself can be extended to 1Mta in the next phase of its development.

While the company is very adept in quickly establishing its presence in markets, it will not be the sole producer in Mali. Diamond Cement Mali (Wacem) has been operating its 0.5Mta intergrated plant at Astro, in the village of Gangotérie, as well as a grinding unit at Ko-Gare, Koulikoro region. In October 2016, the company announced it will be building a new 0.75Mta cement works. Vicat also distributes cement from its Ciment et Materiaux du Mali distribution terminal at Bamako.

Moreover, Dangote Cement Mali SA that is planning a 1.5Mta grinding plant at Bamako and in September 2016, Mali’s government and Gaia Equity Ltd signed an MoU to establish a greenfield 1.5Mta plant at Guimbanee, Diéma, Kayes region. Sinoma will build the new plant that is supported by investors from Ireland, Palestine, Saudi Arabia and China. It will not be commissioned though for another three years.

Addoha Group’s European expansion is challenged
The group's expansion into Europe, however, is following a less smooth path. This week saw the Group come up against the National Front in France as its Fos-sur-Mer 0.4Mta cement plant was criticised for threatening the local jobs of cement employees at Vicat, Lafarge and Calcia. The new plant started construction in 2012 but has been delayed due to mounting opposition even though the facility is set to create more than 100 jobs.

Addoha Group has been installing state-of-the-art equipment in all of its locations and its flagship thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions plants in Morroco have been setting the standard for environmental performance and low energy consumption. In the month of December 2016, CIMAF has opened new plants in Ghana and Mali.